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Saturday, March 04, 2006

Esera Tuaolo

I just read recently on NPR's website that Esera Tuaolo will soon release a memoir of his life--"Alone in the Trenches: My life as a Gay Man in the NFL." I first met Esera in the early 90s on the Big Island where his brother is a prominent paddler and coach for my mother's canoe club.

As a sports fan I knew of him as a football player in the NFL but did not know much more about him until he came out in 2002 in his groundbreaking interview with Bernard Goldberg of HBO Real Sports. The firestorm that followed his interview on Real Sports and also ESPN the Magazine both in the sports arena and the Samoan community were something to watch and listen to. Having spent considerable time in the football community my guess is there will be more athletes that will come out in the future--perhaps even due to the work of Tuaolo. Check out the NPR site to hear his interview and read an excerpt from the book. You may also pre-order his book from Esera's website: http://eseratuaolo.com/front.html